Black Rebel Motorcycle Club prove Howl still bites on its 20th anniversary Tour in Manchester
- Desh Kapur
- 3 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Manchester Academy, Manchester 12th November 2025
WORDS AND IMAGES DESH KAPUR
A cold Friday night in Manchester felt like the perfect backdrop for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s return to Howl — an album forged in dust, doubt and devotion. Twenty years on from its release, BRMC’s 2005 acoustic detour remains a career-defining curveball, and at the Academy tonight it’s treated with the reverence it deserves.
With barely enough time to grab a beer, the lights drop and the room is swallowed whole by darkness. Peter Hayes appears alone, hood up, armed only with a guitar and a harmonica. No pleasantries, no build-up — just straight into ‘Devil’s Waitin’’. His voice, ragged and road-worn, cuts through the silence. You could genuinely hear a pin drop. It’s a bold, spellbinding opening that immediately commands the room.
Robert Levon Been soon materialises from the shadows, adding ghostly backing vocals while remaining almost entirely unseen. The restraint is deliberate, amplifying Howl’s stark, haunted beauty. When drummer Leah Shapiro finally joins for the foot-stomping ‘Shuffle Your Feet’, the spell lifts just enough for the crowd to clap and sing along, the Academy suddenly alive with warmth and motion.
True to form, BRMC keep the visuals stripped back — moody, minimal lighting casting the band in silhouette. But pyrotechnics would only get in the way here. This is music that thrives on atmosphere, on tension, on the space between notes. The band move fluidly through Howl, shuffling the track order to give the set a natural, narrative flow rather than a museum-piece run-through.
A standout moment arrives with a tender acoustic tribute to Mani of The Stone Roses, delivered by Been with heartfelt sincerity. Not every Howl track makes the cut — ‘Still Suspicion Holds You Tight’ and ‘Complicated Situation’ appear absent — but what remains is BRMC at their most raw and affecting. The vocals are immaculate, harmonies tight and rich, while subtle rearrangements lend familiar songs a more spectral edge.
Hayes, harmonica holder permanently around his neck, peppers the set with mournful mouth-harp lines that add grit and soul in equal measure. The slower moments resonate beautifully around the Academy, proving just how powerful restraint can be.
After closing the Howl segment with ‘The Line’, the band barely pause before detonating into ‘Red Eyes And Tears’. From there, it’s all release. ‘Beat The Devil’s Tattoo’ lands with brute force, while ‘Whatever Happened To My Rock’n’Roll (Punk Song)’ turns the room feral, the crowd screaming every word back at the stage.
By the time we spill back out into the freezing Manchester night, it’s clear this was never just an anniversary victory lap. It was a reminder. Howl still cuts deep, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — twenty years on — remain a vital, visceral live force. Dark, defiant and utterly uncompromising
SET LIST
Devil's Waitin'
Shuffle Your Feet
Howl
Ain't No Easy Way
Promise
Weight of the World
Fault Line
I Am the Resurrection
(The Stone Roses cover)
Restless Sinner
Sympathetic Noose
Gospel Song
The Line
Red Eyes and Tears
White Palms
Beat the Devil's Tattoo
Berlin
Conscience Killer
Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll (Punk Song)
Spread Your Love
Shadow's Keeper
Open Invitation
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